Jun Veneracion on The Battle of Tipo-Tipo
This is the account of Jun Veneracion, just one of the three GMA News Team that was caught in the middle of the battle of Tipo-Tipo in Basilan. This is the battle that took the lives of 14 Marines, and which also ended with the beheading of 10 Marines.
Watching it on television was almost too much, but this first hand account, coming from Jun himself, gives us a deeper look as to the circumstances within that battle.
For seven long hours, we stared death in the eye.
The trip to Basilan was an offshoot of reports from military sources that Bossi had been transferred to the island by his captors.
I noticed that the houses were empty.
The sight triggered an eerie feeling, recalling conversations I had with soldiers and even civilians during previous Mindanao coverage sorties that empty communities are an indicator that something bad is waiting around the corner.
Minutes later, we heard the Marines telling one another to be on alert.
Tree branches and leaves fell from above as a result of heavy enemy fire. A staccato of varying gunshots and explosions became a familiar refrain.
At first, we thought it was going to be a short gunbattle. But we were wrong.
As minutes passed by, the firefight turned for the worse.
My team was pinned to the ground amidst an endless volley of fire.
Then we heard messages from radio that some marines have been hit.
These are just excerpts, please go to GMA News for the full account.
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I’ve just finished reading the narrative and must confess I was overwhelmed.
Difficult to really put a number to the attacking party (MILF or other forces of beheaders, mutilators or plain ambushers) in the heat of battle - they may be 500 or less but even if for the sake of argument there were only 200, the fact that the ambushers were on higher ground gave them an enormous tactical advantage over less than a hundred or more troops exposed in open battlefield.
The media men were very lucky to have come out of it alive!
We need answers to 2 questions that I’ve been asking since the news broke into the blogging world:
What happened to back up support either by air or land forces? WHAT BLOODY HAPPENED?
Why aren’t military commanders’ heads rolling yet?
After reading the accoutn, I am a bit perplexed: Why was the Marine unit split, i.e., one that lagged behind while the other with whom the media team found thelselves split, separated from their mother unit? What happened?
MBW, exactly. excellent point. 7 hours is just too much to not have had any reinforcements…
No heads rolling, just more “investigations”…